This invention provides several iterations for dyeing individual hairs or hair tufts, and comprises a body with a dye cavity in which one or more dye partitions can be filled, where dye materials are pressed out through screw drive or compression means, and where the dye materials are protected from air until extruded, such that unused portions can be stored rather than thrown away. In a preferred embodiment the dye cavity contains dye partitions for dye material and developer, which are forced by pressure into a mixing spiral which mixes them together and applies the active mixture to a person's hair through either a top attachment or pincers, both of which are constructed of spongy material which soaks up the dye mixture from the mixing spiral. The invention also provides a latex tube which prophylactically isolates the dyed hair such that the dye does not spread in an undesired manner.
During the average person's life, his or her hair eventually loses pigment and grey hair appears. For those wishing to cover up the grey hair, the common method is to simply dye the entire head of hair. The dyeing process is an essentially basic practice of placing dye material on the hair, so that the hair takes on the covering color rather than the underlying grey.
Other people wish to streak or add highlights to their hair. This is a fairly expensive and time-consuming process, as each individual tuft of hair desired to be dyed must be physically separated from the rest of the hair, then have dye material placed on that tuft and, finally, have the dyed material isolated from the other parts of the person's hair.
No matter what the reason for wishing to color hair by a method other than dyeing the entire head of hair at once, there exists a problem relating to how to dye individual hairs or smaller or larger tufts of hair without smearing the dye on other hairs, and performing the dyeing operation in an efficient and cost-effective method. A brief review of the present methods will support the contention that current methods do not provide a satisfactory way in which individuals and hair care professionals can dye individual hair or tufts of hairs.
One present method requires a person to don a rubber cap with multiple small openings. A steel hook is then used to pull hair tufts out through the openings in the rubber cap, which are then dyed. To dye the hair, a paintbrush or small spade is used to take dye and apply it to the tuft by sliding the brush or spade along the tuft. After all the tufts of hair pulled through the rubber cap are dyed, another rubber cap is slipped over the first rubber cap to prevent the tufts from drying as the dye deposits the dye color on the hair tufts (it is important to the dyeing process that the hair does not dry out too quickly, which can happen if the hair tuft is exposed to air immediately after being dyed).
The other commonly used method is to have the hair care professional manually separate and isolate the tuft desired to be dyed, stretch it and keep it suspended in the air, separated from the rest of the hair, or to lay it on a long, narrow strip of aluminium foil. Dye is then applied to the hair tuft, after which the tuft is wrapped in aluminium foil that protects the dyeing tuft of hair from prematurely drying out and keeps it from dripping dye on the other portions of the hair.
The first method can be painful, while the other one requires skill, experience, and a lengthy amount of time. Both methods have an inherent risk that either the dye can fall on the remaining hair or that the dye leaks through the aluminium foil. Both methods also require a hair care professional, as it is extremely difficult if not impossible to dye one's own hair using these methods.
Thus, there exists a need for a device which can be used by either a hair care professional or an individual to dye hair, by which dye, comprising either a single dye/developer mixture or a partitioned amount of dye material and developer which can be mixed in an enclosed container by either manual mixing or shaking, can be applied to a desired portion of hair, whether that is an individual hair or a tuft of hair of varying size.
An additional problem with the current methods is that once the dye material is mixed with developer and is exposed to air, it begins an irreversible drying process such that any unused part of the mixture must be thrown away. This waste results in a number of undesirable effects, including higher cost due to the need to use a larger quantity of materials, shortened working time as once the mixture is exposed to air, the hair care professional has a certain amount of time to perform the work before the mixture becomes unworkable, and the environmental damage that results from throwing away the toxic chemicals. Thus, it is desirable to have a device which can be used to dye hair but does not expose all of the dye material/developer mixture to air such that it begins to cure, but rather only uses the amount necessary to perform the desired colouring without wasting the entire mixture.
The current invention meets these needs with a single invention which address all of the above concerns, namely, a roughly cylindrical body which forms a dye cavity in which one or more dye partitions can be filled, where dye materials are pressed out through screw drive or compression means, and where the dye materials are protected from air until extruded, such that unused portions can be stored rather than thrown away. There are numerous iterations of this invention, designed to meet the varying needs of people desiring to color their hair ranging from individuals who would like to dye their hair every couple of months to hair care professionals who, with this invention, can perform many hair colourings each day. The invention teaches devices which hold in an airtight compartment both pre-mixed dye mixtures and bodies which hold separate compartments or partitions for dye material and developer. In this preferred embodiment the dye partitions have piston heads which are forced by pressure into the dye partitions such that both dye material and developer are forced into a mixing spiral which mixes them together. The mixture of dye material and developer is then applied to a person's hair through either a top attachment, which can come in a variety of shapes and sizes ranging from narrow brushes to broad spades, or pincers which can open and grasp individual hairs or hair tufts, where both the top attachments and pincers are constructed of spongy material which soaks up the dye mixture from the mixing spiral. The invention also provides a latex tube which prophylactically isolates the dyed hair such that the dye does not spread in an undesired manner.